


Sparks Fly

by cats_pajamies



Series: Summer of Self [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Aromantic, Gen, I have no idea what this au is, M/M, Multi, slowburn, this is more about feelings than setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 20:16:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20377474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cats_pajamies/pseuds/cats_pajamies
Summary: Logan Sanders just want to be happy, and all his life he's been told a relationship, and a career is the way to go, but he's not sure if he even wants that.Virgil is trying his hardest to just get through the summer and not think about what comes next, and he especially doesn't want to think about where he fits now that his best friend Patton and Roman are dating.When they meet at a summer theatre program sparks fly, but will a fire ignite between the two of them?





	1. First Day

Logan took a deep breath as he straightened his spine. Today was the first day of what some would call the rest of his life, but he would call it what it was, an opportunity to turn a hobby into a little extra cash. The life of a student was always fiscally tight and this excursion would help loosen it up a little in the future, but only if he did well, which was unlikely, but still possible.

He strode into the nondescript brick building and greeted the secretary, “Hello, I’m Logan Sanders. I’m a part of the stage crew, and I’m here to check-in.”

“Of course, you’ll be in room 305, it’s on the third floor. Your roommate has already checked in. We’ll be having orientation Friday at 3:00 pm in amphitheater C. That when you’ll get the details about stage crew. Later that same day we’ll be having a meet and greet in the cafe. It starts at 8:00 pm and goes till 11:00 pm. Also please remember that curfew is midnight and that it still stands in the days before we’ve officially started.” The secretary said in a flat tone as she handed him the keys to his dorm.

“Understood, thank you,” Logan replied with a curt nod as he began to walk towards his room. During the surprisingly long walk, Logan tried to figure out how he should introduce himself to his roommate. He was notoriously bad with people, but considering he would be sharing approximately 130 square feet with them for an entire summer he should at least try to make a good first impression. Logan was so consumed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice when he walked right past his room. Feeling a tad bit embarrassed he retraced his steps before taking a deep breathe and unlocking the door.

His roommate was the one thing Logan had not yet mentally prepared himself for, hot. He had cheekbones that Logan swore could cut diamonds, hazel eyes speckled with gold, an undercut bleached so blonde it was almost white, and most eye-catching a scar covering one half of his face. He was gorgeous.

Logan stood completely still as he tried to understand the desire that rushed through him the moment he looked at his roommate. He had never felt anything like that, especially for another man, it was completely foreign and exhilarating.   
Now Logan was by no means naive about sex or sexual desire, he just had no time for it, so he assumed he was straight just like everyone else did, but now looking at the man in front of him he was beginning to doubt that.

The pair stood in silence for a few more moments until the man said, “Heeeey, you’re my roommate?”

Logan blinks a couple of times before clearing his throat and replying, “Yes, sorry, I must have zoned out for a moment,” desperately avoiding eye contact.

“That’s chill,” the man responding flashing an awkward peace sign, clearly wondering why his roommate was such a disaster, at least that’s what it seemed like to Logan.

“I’m Logan,” he tried, desperately hoping to salvage this social interaction.

Another peace sign and the words, “Also chill.”

“And you are?” Logan prompted becoming slightly annoyed. He was trying for fuck sake and this dude was just flashing peace signs.

Lucky there was no peace sign this time, but the man’s response was just insane. “We’re not there yet.”

“We’re not at first names?” He was both done completely and utterly done and even more intrigued with the mysterious man in front of him.

“Not yet.” Two words, just two words and yet Logan was getting ready to strangle someone.

Logan took a deep breathe preparing himself for another dumb answer. “But I told you my name?”

“Like a chump, only fools introduce themselves.” There it was, the dumbest thing Logan had ever heard in his albeit sheltered 22 years.

Logan sighed sensing that this was going to be a long year. “Ok, so if you don’t want to tell me your name what should I call you?”

“Dee, something you may be getting if you play your cards right.” Dee’s answer was punctuated with a wink that would cause lesser men to faint, thankfully Logan was not a lesser man, though he wasn’t entirely immune to Dee’s charms.

“Excuse me?” Logan asked his voice cracking a bit as the kill bill sirens went off in his head.

Dee replied, “It was a joke? You know like D means dick?” his words seeming a bit unsure.

“I know that! It’s just odd that you won’t tell me your name but you’ll make sexual innuendos at me.” His voice still cracking and getting higher and higher pitched with every word.

With apparent guilt, Dee apologized, “Did you not want me to? Sorry, I’ll stop.”

Logan took a moment to gather his senses. “It’s fine, just next time try to think before you speak,” he replied, trying to seem like he wasn’t a disaster who may or not be gay.

“Yes, sir. Looks like kitten got some claws,” and it was clear from the sexual tone of that reply Dee had learned nothing.

“Ugh, I’m just going to pretend that the last minute of conversation didn’t happen. Hi, I’m with tech/stage crew. What about you?” Logan asked with a fake smile.

Dee placed a hand on his chest and dramatically answered, “Leading lady, the limelight calls my name.”

“Oh, do you use she/her pronouns?” Logan replied, trying to process the new information that was just presented to him.

Dee’s eyes flashed, baring his teeth for just a second, and oh god did human’s teeth naturally come that sharp. “He/him or they/them, use she/her for me and I will call trans-Jesus down to smite you.”

Logan raised his hands in a gesture that effectively communicated he did not mean to offend. “Of course, trans-Jesus takes misgendering very seriously. Please let me know if I use a term that makes you uncomfortable.”

“I will, but a rule of thumb is that only I can you feminine words to describe myself.” Dee started to relax a bit as he talked.

“Thank you for clarifying. By the way, I use he/him pronouns, but you probably already figured that out.” Logan said, hoping to ease the tension that was leaving but still noticeably there.

Dee shrugged and replied, “I never assume anything, it makes an ass out of you and me.”

“Very true. Now should we get all the roommate based things out of the way? For instance, which bed do you want and what’s your stance on posters?” Logan was shifting his weight with every question, unsure why he was so nervous. He had seen hot people before, so why was Dee causing this sort of reaction?

Dee didn’t seem to notice the gay panic he was causing as he glanced around the room before deciding, “Left one’s closer to the heater so it’s mine. Posters are fine, just no naked women, this is a gays only room.” there was a brief awkward pause before Dee just dived right in, “Also, do you know the sock on the doorknob rule?”

The moment the question registered in Logan’s mind his face practically burst into flames. “Yes, the sock on the doorknob rule states that if there is a sock on the doorknob then a sexual encounter is happening and another place of lodging will be needed for the night.”

“A little wordy, but right. Bravo Pointdexter,” Dee replied breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that he would not have to explain the sock thing to someone who gave off such strong sexually-naive vibes.

“Oh, so we’re not at names, but we are at nicknames,” Logan retorted as a headache began to form.

Dee easily replied, “I like to think of them as more of terms of endearment,” mischief lighting up in his eyes.

Logan rubbed his temples, wondering what he did to deserve this as he groaned, “That’s even worse”

“You’ll get used to it, sweetheart,” God why did he have to say it like that? Full of sensuality and with a twang of a southern accent. Did he want to kill Logan, cause that’s where this was going.

“I doubt so,” Logan’s stomach growled, providing an answer as to why he was so easily agitated. “I’m going to get some food and due to the fact that it’s in my best interest to be civil towards you, I’m inviting you to go with me.”

“Sure I’m always a hungry bitch and can’t say no to a pretty face like that,” Logan felt like strangling Dee when he had the audacity to wink like he wasn’t causing Logan’s heart to go insane. 

“Was that wink indicating that you are flirting with me or just merely joking?” Logan asked, swallowing his pride in an attempt to understand what was happening.

Dee tilted his head and retorted, “Are you into it?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Logan answered honestly, even though he would have rather eat glass than admit to not knowing something.

“Then it was neither,” was Dee’s non-committal answer and Logan wasn’t sure whether he wanted to kill Dee or fuck him. 

Logan argued, “That doesn’t make sense, it has to have been one or the other. You had intention by doing it giving it inherent meaning,” unable to stop himself, breaking the promise he made himself about being less argumentative and letting people be wrong.

“Just think of it like Schrödinger's cat, hot stuff.” Trans-Jesus, did Dee really need to really wink after every single time he flirted?

“This is going to be an infuriating summer,” Logan complained, even though anyone with half a mind could see that he was enjoying himself.

Dee just smiled widely and said, “Only if you fight the flirting.”

The two continued to flirt the entire walk to the cafe, even if both of them would deny it and say they were just having some light banter. It was clear to anyone watching that the two of them were attracted to each other, some even though they were in love, but Logan and any other reasonable person would argue that shows an inherent flaw in how relationships are viewed. 

“So, tell me about yourself. What made a nerd like you decide to spend the summer with dramatic gays like myself?” Dee asked as they sat down with their lunch, sausage pizza for Dee and a slice of cheese pizza for the vegetarian Logan.

“Tell me your first name,” Logan combated, not willing to let the name thing go.

Dee just laughed and insisted, “We’re not there yet,” refusing to meet Logan’s inquiring gaze.

“Then as the teens say, you are not able to unlock my tragic backstory yet.” Logan shrugged, joining Dee in the lovely game of awkwardly avoiding eye contact. 

“Is it tragic?” Dee asked, sounding oddly concerned for the person he had met barely an hour ago.

“You need to be friendship level 5 to gain that information. Do you prefer an XP based system or milestone-based system of leveling?” Logan fell back on his old social crutch, D&D mechanics. He didn’t mean to, it was just after years of using it as an escape from his life it became all too easy to go back to it, even if it meant breaking another one of his promises. 

Dee was still concerned, but he decided to go along with whatever was happening in an attempt to make the situation a little less tense. “Milestone, then I don’t have to do much.”

“Why does that make so much sense?” Logan questioned more to himself than anyone else.

Dee grinned the telltale glint of mischief back in his eyes. “Because I give off that vibe. I thought that was clear.”

“Nothing's ever clear with you.” Logan was smiling, even though he was trying to act like he hated what was happening. This wasn’t a particularly odd occurrence, but it did mean something even if either of them wasn’t sure what it meant.

Dee dramatically clutched his chest and fake cried, “I’m hurt, you’ve known me for barely an hour and you already think so harshly of me.” 

“I never said that was a bad thing.” Logan punctuated that statement by giving Dee his most charming smile, subsequently letting go of an illusion that he wasn’t having a blast.

“So forward, whatever will my mother think?” Dee fanned himself with his hand, the southern drawl coming back.

Logan snorted, covering his mouth with his hand. “You don’t care about what your mother thinks.”

“So right you are.” Dee dropped the accent and the jokes “You're pretty good at picking people apart.”

“Not really, personality I can do, but if you're ever in emotional distress I would suggest you talk to anyone else.” Logan didn’t know why he was saying all of this, maybe Dee just put him at ease or more likely he was starting to become fatigued. At least Logan hoped it was the latter.

Dee took a chance and asked, “And why is that?”

“I barely understand my emotions most days, so other people are just an enigma.” Logan’s were barely audible and it seemed like he was about to break the world record for avoiding eye contact.

“That was surprisingly honest,” Dee admitted, unsure of how to proceed.

Logan just sighed, “I never see the point in deceiving people, especially those I’ll be spending an extended amount of time with.”

“I have to disagree with you, those are the best people to deceive,” Dee replied, a truth for a truth was his philosophy and besides, Logan deserved to know at least a little bit of what he was getting into.

“How so?” Logan questioned, unable to stop himself. 

Dee swallowed and gathered whatever courage he had. “You can make them see you the way you want them to and all you have to do is lie a little. That’s a pretty sweet deal, don’t ya think?”

Logan finally meets Dee’s eyes and the look in them could have turned a sinner into a saint. “Hmm, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Awww, Lo don’t look at me like that. I thought we were having a great time.” Dee begged, trying to pretend like he was joking.

“We were,” Logan replied, turning over the fact that Dee was a self-admitted liar in his mind.

Dee was pessimistic it was the many flaws that he saw in himself, and one of the many things he lied about. “But it’s over now?”

“No, just paused for a bit,” Logan replied, taking pity on Dee, and how could he not when he sounded so defeated.

“I wonder when we can start again.” Dee’s was so tiny when he said that it was clear that he thought that they would never start again.

“I believe we already have. It’s very easy to converse and bant with you.” Logan admitted, knowing that he was taking a risk, but for the first time in his carefully planned life, he didn’t care.

Dee breathed a sigh of relief and teased, “Oh, converse, what a big word.”

Logan rolled his eyes in fake annoyance. “Your sarcasm won’t scare me off.”

Dee smiled. “Good I need more people in my life who can handle me.” It was true he needed someone who could handle him and so did Logan. For a fleeting moment they each hoped the man across from them could be that person.


	2. Scene Change

Friday came quicker than Logan would have liked or imagined mostly because during the handful of days they were together they got to know each, well as best as they could with Dee deflecting the most basic of personal questions, but it was still good, maybe even amazing. Logan wasn’t one for feelings or really anything of that sort, but he allowed himself to question if he might have been catching feelings for Dee. He wasn’t entirely sure of the answer mainly because all the research done into the matter was contradictory, the most common answer to the question, ‘Do I have a crush’ is ‘You’ll know.’ What does that even mean? It’s just vague enough to be both annoying and unhelpful, but Logan didn’t much time to dwell on it because he was busy preparing for orientation. He wanted to make an impression in the more experienced members, but he was unsure of how to go about making that impression, so in the end, he decided on just wearing his regular attire of dress pants, button-up shirt, and a tie, hoping that it would make a fine first impression.

As he and Dee walked down to amphitheater C, bantering with a touch of flirting as usually, a figure caught Logan’s eye for just a moment, they were wearing a patchwork hoodie and ripped jeans. Their hair was dyed a startling hue of purple, which put them out of Logan’s favor almost immediately, in addition to that they were wearing ratty converse covered in equal parts wholes and drawings. All in all they were honestly unremarkable and the only reason they caught Logan’s eye in that minute is the fact as they were passing by someone else yelled what was presumably the figures name “Virgil!” along with the greeting “Long time no see, Patton is absolutely starved for your attention and help setting up!”

Dee and Logan go to sit down while Virgil yells at his friend, “God I wish it was a longer time no see.”

“Oh! How you wound me. Even after all these subtextually homoerotic years your words still feel like knives to my heart,” The other man yelled back clutching his chest.

Virgil sighed and rolled his eyes as he replied, “Roman, I swear to god, I will take an actual knife to your heart if you don’t chill”

“Oh, Mr. I-cried-because-a-guy-said-hey-to-me, wants me to chill?” Roman asked, barely hiding his smirk.

Virgil’s face erupted into flames at the mere memory of that day. “We promised not to talk about that!”

“Patton promised, I said nothing of the sort. Now get your ass into the amphitheater before you make Patton sad.”

“Just call it an auditorium,” Virgil grumbled as he begrudgingly did what Roman asked.

Roman gasped so dramatically, that anyone would be able to tell he was faking his indignation. “That would be blasphemy! You heretic!”

Virgil could barely contain his laughter at Roman’s hurt tone. He took a moment to get over his giggle fit before saying, “Whatever, Ro, how was your trip?”

Roman rubbed his hands down with face and took a deep breath, preparing to complain. “Ugh, I was next to some asshole on the plane ride here, who spent the entire time practically yelling into his phone about how he was gonna smash some, and I quote, ‘mad puss,’ like geez if I have to deal with another cishet dude I will go mad and wait too long to avenge the death of my father.”

Virgil was confused at the last bit of Roman’s rant, but that wasn’t anything new. Talking to Roman often included trying to decoded his myriad of theatrical references. “Ah, but then you’d also have to reject Patton causing him to go mad and drown himself, leading to me having to duel you because you also killed my dad.”

Even though Roman was a moderately good actor he couldn’t hide the shock on his face when he realized that Virgil knew what he was talking about. “You finally read Hamlet?”

“There was nothing better to do on the plane ride here,” Virgil admitted before continuing, “Though I still stand by the fact that Shakespeare is overrated.”

Roman was so pleased he couldn’t even pretend to be scandalized as he asked, “Even the modern versions?” although he did try to.

“No, because those take the gay out of subtext and into the limelight, where all gay things belong,” Virgil conceded, sounding like he hated to concede even such a simple point to Roman.

“Very true, my fair Virgil,” Roman agreed as they finally made it backstage.

The moment Virgil stepped backstage Patton launched himself into Virgil’s arms, joyfully yelling, “Kiddo! I’m so happy you’re here!”

Roman stepped around the two and said, “Puffball, I’m the one who’s your boyfriend you haven’t seen face to face in 6 months.”

“Sorry princey, Pat likes me better,” Virgil replied, grinning from ear to ear.

Roman grabs a fake sword from the nearby prop table and screams, “LIES AND SLANDER!”

Patton hops out of Virgil’s arms before kissing Roman on the cheek and explaining, “Sorry Roro, it’s cause I haven’t seen my son in a year. How can you expect a parent to go that long without hugging their kiddo?”

“It’s ok my love, I know I shall have more of your attention later” As Roman says that he waggled his eyebrows and winks at the same time, it looks ridiculous, but it gets the point across.

Virgil fakes gags before replying, “Gross, I’m gonna leave you to horny teens alone while I go prepare to put some stuck-up tech kids in their place,” as he began to mess around with the mic setup.

“Virge, we’re all 20, no longer teens” Roman retorted, wrapping his arm around Patton’s waist.

Virgil retorted, “Yeah, but you’re far from adults,” a subtle smile gracing his face.

“Technically I’m 21! And I’m really good at adultery,” Patton protested, the last part of his sentence causing warning bells to go off in the other two’s heads.

“Patton, what?” Choked out, looking like he was about to cry.

Patton tilted his head in confusion before explaining, “Adultery, the act of being an adult.”

Virgil had to stifle a laugh before saying, “That’s, that’s not what that means.” He honestly loved his friends, but sometimes he couldn’t help but laugh at them.

“Really?” Patton questioned, his eyebrows furrowing.

Virgil nodded, and replied, “Yeah, sorry.”

“Dang, so Dee lied to me,” Patton said as means of explanation, looking disappointed.

Roman finally got over the shock of the matter and sarcastically asked, “Is that really a surprise?”

“No, but I just thought cause it’s his first year here he would you know, try to be different?” Patton admitted, sounding a little defeated, but more-so hopeful.

Virgil shook his head in disbelief and muttered, “God, you’re too good for this world.” 

“Agreed we have to protect him from the truth,” Roman replied, just barely managing to hear Virgil's muddled words.

Virgil easily joined Roman’s banter by simply stating, “It would be too damaging for him to hear.” 

Patton crossed his arms and insisted, “Guys! Just tell me,” making sure to add in his signature puppy eyes.

Sadly for him, Roman was well acquainted with those eyes by now and apologetically replied, “I’m sorry but you can never know.”

“Roman...don’t make me use the dad voice,” Patton threatened, although he was much smaller than Roman that seemed to make a difference.

Roman hid behind Virgil and begged, “Virgil, help!”

“Sorry, you’re on your own,” Virgil said right before shoving Roman into Patton.

Patton caught Roman in his eyes and scolded Vigil, “Don’t think I won’t dad voice you to mister.”

Virgil raised his hands in defeat and explained, “Ok, ok, the truth is...Dee is not the best person and you should maybe stop trusting him.”

“I never give up on a kiddo! He just needs some PLC.” Patton protested, wanting to believe in Dee even if it was illogical to do so.

“PLC?” Roman questioned the clearly new term.

Patton happily explained, “Patton love and care,” looking quite proud of himself.

“You could call it plac,” Virgil suggested, preferring words to acronyms.

Patton shook his head in disagreement and insisted, “PLC is better.”

“If you say so, my love,” Roman teased, smiling and his boyfriend and best friend.

Patton not sensing the teasing or choosing to ignore it happily shouted, “I do!” acting as if Roman had just proposed.

“Ok, sorry to break up this tooth-rotting fluff fest, but don’t we have actual work to do?” Virgil asked, not at all sorry to break up the so-called fluff fest.

Roman shrugged and answered, “Just putting stuck-up newbies in their places,” as if to imply that was not actual work.

“Roman!” Patton scolded, scarily close to activating his dad voice.

Roman quickly amended, “I mean leading all these new faces in bonding activities and icebreakers.”

Virgil couldn’t help it, he lost his shit right then and there. “He’s got you whipped alright,” he managed to point out through his laughter.

Roman got a very serious look on his face before solemnly saying, “Virgil, that was an incredibly straight thing to say.”

Virgil’s eyes widened and he suddenly stopped laughing. “Oh no, enact code alpha.”

Roman made a finger gun and pressed it into Virgil’s forehead. “Code alpha enacted, I’m so sorry my friend,” He whispered, his eyes tearing up.

“PULL THE TRIGGER PIGLET,” Virgil screamed, looking dead serious.

After a moment they all burst out laughing and Roman asked, “Virgil are you sure you don’t want to lead the improve this year?”

Virgil shrugged and gave a non-answer, “You know I have terrible stage fright and actually terrible anxiety in general.”

“Well kiddo, I personally think you would be great at it,” Patton said, never missing a chance to encourage Virgil.

“Thanks, Dad,” Virgil replied, seeming a little down, but all around fine.

Roman once again looked offended and protested, “Hey, I was the one who said you should do it!”

Virgil rolled his eyes and said, “Thanks, Ron, my step-dad who I hate.”

“I’m gonna kill you one of these days,” Roman threatened, even though it was clear he was joking.

“Hurry it up, I’m tired of waiting over here,” Virgil replied in a deadpan voice, tapping his wrist with impatience.

Patton’s eyes narrowed and the dad voice was finally activated, “Virgil!”

Virgil’s hands shot up and he apologized, “I know, I know, sorry.”

“Remember to put money in the jar.” Roman reminded with fake helpfulness, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Virgil matched that exact fake pleasant tone, “Remember to bathe your toaster tonight.”

“Thanks! I thought he needed a good scrubbing,” Roman replied, smiling even wider.

Patton gently smacked the back of each of their heads and chided, “Knock it off you two, we have to seem professional and in charge this year.”

“Ugh, why?” Roman whined, his heads thrown back.

Virgil, “Because we are, genius,” even though he knew it was a rhetorical question.

“Try that again,” Patton said, not even bothering to scold any harsher than that.

Virgil amended, “Because we are in charge,” begrudgingly.

“Gross,” Roman complained, looking like he would rather be one of the other students who were just learning, no extra responsibilities.

“I know.” Virgil agreed, in a rare show of solidarity with Roman.

“Now kiddos, be proud in yourselves that in the last 3 or in Virgil’s case 2 we’ve proved ourselves responsible enough to lead this!”

“I regret all my actions up to this point,” Virgil sighed, even going as far as to pour a little bit.

Roman nodded his head and agreed, “Same.”

Patton smiled at the two and in his most energetic voice replied, “Cheer up! We can do this!”

Virgil fave Patton a small smile before admitting, “Patton, I would die for you in an instant, but you’re a bit too cheerful.”

“Virgil! No dying on my watch,” Patton scolded, although the effect was slightly diminished by the fact that he sounded like a pouting child.

“There go my weekend plans,” Virgil deadpanned.

Roman asked, “You had weekend plans? What with a gravedigger?” not one to miss an opportunity to tease Virgil.

“No with your dad,” Virgil answered, clearly as a knee jerk reaction.

“Don’t you mean mom?” Roman questioned, his eyebrows furrowing just a tad bit to much.

Virgil lifted his hands in the ‘guess I’ll die’ gesture and answered, “No, I’m gay? You know I’m gay. Why would you think I meant mom?”

Patton pointed out, “He has a point, Ro.”

Roman gasped and the yelled out, “You’ve turned my own lover against me. Prepare to be vanquished.”

“Not so fast! You forgot one important fact!” Virgil yelled in response, loving how easy it was to joke with his friends.

“Which is?” Roman slowly asked, clearly apprehensive.

Virgil’s eyes light up as he declares, “Patton was my dad before he was your boyfriend!”

“Oh no! I was the villain the entire time!” Roman turns to Patton and begs, “My love, light of my life, could you ever forgive me?”

Patton’s laughing so hard that it takes him a moment to reply, “Always, but we really do have to go give those presentations now.”

The three of them spend a few minutes trying to calm down their laughter before entering the stage. Immediately Roman grabs a mic and greets the crowd, “Hello and welcome to another year at the Sanders Institute of Theatre's summer program! I’m Roman and I’m in charge of all the aspiring actors in the crowd today, or at least I’m in charge of the people in charge”

“For some of you it’s your first year here and that’s amazing! We hope you have a fabulous time! I’m Patton and I’m the co-head of the tech crew!” Patton picks up from where Roman left off with barely a pause between their sentences.

When Patton finished, Virgil holds up a half-assed peace sign and announced, “I’m the other co-head, Virgil. I mostly focus on the costume and makeup parts of it, while Pat does all the set design.”

“Together we make the perfect team!” Patton jumps in, unable to help himself.

Roman effortlessly continuous the presentation, making it seem as if the three had actually put some effort into practicing, “Back to me, ok, so over the course of these 3 months you’ll learn about your chosen path.”

“Y’all have already been separated into groups depending on how many of the years you’ve attended so far, so no worrying about being in classes with like 25-year-olds when you’re 19/20,” Virgil picked up, his voice gaining confidence as he talked.

“Now with all that out of the way here are a few ‘dad’ things we need to address. One, there is no curfew, but there is also no underaged drinking/smoking. Two, this is still a course and you’re expected to show up to your classes on time and at least pretending to be ready to learn. And finally, intimate relationships are allowed, but please be smart and consensual about them.” Patton paused for a moment to let the seriousness of the statement sink in before cheerfully continuing, “Now, we’ll see you all in a couple of hours for the party!”

And with that, the three of them hop of the stage joking the entire way down the aisle and just as they were about to leave they heard Dee say to his companion, “So, that party is going to be lame as shit, right?”


	3. Fight Scence

The few hours passed relatively quickly for Logan. He did not particularly care about what he was to wear which made freed up an indescribable amount of time, well that’s a lie, Logan if given a few minutes and some scratch paper could easily figure out the amount of time that he saved, but due to the fact that Dee was throwing clothes around the room, Logan figured now was not the best time to do some math.

“Logan help!” Dee cried, flinging himself on to Logan’s bed.

Logan sighed and moved over to give Dee some room. “What? Why?”

“Because you’re gay and I’m trying to attract gay dudes.”

With that Logan felt a pang of something that he really couldn’t describe, but anyone who wasn’t repressing their feelings all day every day would describe it as jealousy. “I might not be the person to ask about that. I’m not known for being the most perceptive of other’s intentions.”

“Dude all I need you to do is tell me which pair of pants make my ass look hottest, and if seeing my binder through the mesh makes you get butterflies.” Dee groaned, clearly close to just giving up on Logan ever understanding social cues.

Logan’s face turned a light shade of pink as he began, “Dee…” trying to figure out how he would explain something that he didn’t truly understand himself.

Dee sat up with a start and said, “What? Shit, are you ace? Sorry dude, must have made you a little awkward there,” feeling horribly guilty for not even considering the possibility.

“No! I’m not!” Logan shouted before pausing for a moment to gather himself together and try to determine if he was in face allosexual. “Or I don’t believe I am, I haven’t really had a chance to figure all this out yet”

“Oh, really? You just sort of seem like the type to ya know, have everything figured out?”

“Well, I’m not I guess,” Logan huffed, more upset with himself for not knowing something than Dee for pointing it put.

Dee paused for a moment, clearly thinking of a way to solve this issue before suggesting, “Ok, wanna fuck?”

“What the fuck?!” Logan yelled, yeeting himself off the bed.

Dee peered over the edge of the bed and explained, “I mean if ya don’t like fucking this then ya probably won’t like fucking other dudes.”

Logan protested, “I’m not going to fuck you!” wishing he could just sink into the floor and never be seen again.

“Coward”

“Dee!”

“Chill out Lo, it was just a joke. Now for real… does my ass look good in these jeans?” Dee continued, brushing right over the suggestion that they have sex.

Logan replied, “I guess?” still wishing the ground would swallow him and he would never have to look Dee in the eyes again.

Dee rolled his eyes and then rolled off the bed, “That’ll have to do, come on now we’re almost late to the party.”

“I thought you said it was going to be lame?” Logan questioned, quickly sitting up to follow Dee.

“I did say that, but my presence can make any party ten times better.”

“I’d have to agree with you on that.”

Dee smiled a bit, clutched is chest, and put on a horrendously fake french accent, “Are you flirting? With moi?”

“No? Just trying to compliment you?” Logan answered, getting more and more confused with every word Dee said to him.

“Ok Cassanova, if you say so.” Dee joked adding in a wink at the end for a bit of gay flair.

“Cassanova was actually a piece of shit, so maybe don’t compare me to him,” Logan replied, having no clue where the venom in his voice came from.

Dee’s put on the sweetest most condensing voice as he asked, “Then can I call you angel, darling, sweetheart. Oh, my dearest will you accept pet names from me?”

Logan deadpanned, “No,” trying his hardest to stop acting like an asshole, but failing miserably.

“Damn, that’s cold,” Dee joked extending an olive branch and trying to lighten the mood.

Logan for some hellish reason refused to accept the olive branch, and replied, “Then bring a jacket.”

“I wasn’t being literal,” Dee replied giving up almost immediately.

Logan tried to give helpful advice, “You should still bring a jacket, that mesh isn’t going to keep you warm,” but his tone made it clear that he was feeling pretty bitter.

“Ah, but that’s what the hot dudes are for,” Dee winked, but in less of a playful manner in more of a tempting one.

Logan forcefully ignored the wink choosing to dwell on the fact that Dee planned to be with some hot guy, a guy who wasn’t going to be him. “If you say so, but don’t come complaining to me when you’re freezing cold.”

“And don’t get jealous when I’m holding on to the hottest dude at the party,” Dee retorted venom finally finding it’s way into his words.

Logan panicked fearing he had been caught, “Jealous? Why would I be jealous?”

“Because it’s not you holding on to him,” Dee replied, pausing for a second before extending another olive branch, “although I would be down for a threesome.”

“Dee!” Logan shrieked, lightly hitting Dee on the arm.

Dee replied, “Don’t be a prude,” rubbing his arm where Logan hit him.

“I’m not being a prude, I’m being practical,” Logan protested although his scandalized tone and blush gave him away in an instant.

“Yeah ok, mom,” Dee snarked, patting Logan’s cheek.

At that Logan announced, “I’m leaving,” and turned around to do just that.

Dee grabbed Logan’s wrist and pulled him close, whispering in his ear, “No, you’re not because we’re already here and it’ll be a waste of your time.”

Logan pulled away from Dee and hissed, “Ok, let me amend that statement. I’m leaving you, and I’m going to drink punch in the corner.”

Dee sneered a little bit before replying, “That’s fine with me, I don’t really care.”

“Fine,” Logan said, even though it was clearly not fine, this was the exact opposite of fine.

Dee put his head in his hands and groaned, “Ugh, don’t get passive-aggressive with me. If you want to be a baby, go be a baby somewhere else.”

“You’re the one who took a tone first,” Logan replied, and from his point of view, that was true, even if the records would show that in fact the exact opposite of true.

Once more Dee groaned his reply, “Whatever see ya nerd,” and then left. 

And with that Logan was alone. He was not inexperienced with being alone, but he was inexperienced with the bitter feeling that accompanied being alone. To counteract this strange new feeling Logan did what any semi-reasonable young adult would do. 

He got incredibly wasted.

Now Logan remembers the decision to get drunk. Maybe it was the twisting of his stomach when he saw Dee grinding on some random dude that cemented it in his mind, or it could have been that this was the first time Logan had every actually decided to drink, but either way that decision is the last thing he remembers that doesn’t have a vague sort of haze coating it.

There are still some things he remembers in a hazy sort of way, sort of like childhood memories that he can barely recall and are honestly more feelings than real memories. 

Things that fall into that category include the disgusting taste of beer, though which beer it was he was not sure, the surprisingly pleasant taste of pink lemonade and vodka, and how everything started to seem a bit better, even if it seeming that way was a lie.

Other things that happened to Logan that night are some that he only knows from social media. For example, he apparently played beer pong, and of course lost horribly, even if he has no recollection of even seeing his opponents at the party, let alone playing beer pong with them.

Another thing that Logan doesn’t remember, but can not deny is the video of him lying on a trampoline next to another drunk stranger, and babbling about space and some other scientific facts, especially recent discoveries.

Now only two things about that video really embarrassed Logan, one was the fact that he rambling was inconsistent, and Logan prided himself on being at least a half-way decent public speaker.

The other embarrassing part was two-folded, and if one wanted to they could count it as 2 separate items, but both of these actions are so interwoven that Logan wouldn’t dare separate them.

He was holding the stranger’s hand. Logan was also telling the stranger that he was in love with him.

Now normally these things are just a small blip of embarrassment in one’s life, and honestly more like one’s month. But this was of course not the normal circumstances, but Logan did not even see the video until he woke up the next morning, in said stranger’s bed.


	4. Wake Up Call

There was someone in Virgil’s bed. Virgil was panicking. These two things were connected in the same way that two things that are actually the same one thing are connected. 

Virgil does not know how he got into this situation, all he knows is that he got into a drinking contest for Patton’s hand marriage with Roman, and next thing he knows it’s morning and there’s a cute stranger's arm wrapped around his waist. 

The man shifts in his sleep and Virgil holds his breath, desperately trying not to wake the other and wondering if Roman would make fun of him for taking the walk of shame out of his own dorm. 

Luckily or unluckily depending on how you view the situation at hand, the stranger slowly began to wake up, and with that Virgil could he swear he was going to die, especially when the stranger buried his face into the crook of Virgil’s neck and mumbled, “Dee, why the fuck are you in my bed?”

Virgil’s heart stopped and he swears he was dying as he responded, “Oh….hey…..um...I’m actually Virgil?”

“WHAT?!” the man, who from henceforth will be referred to as Logan even though Virgil has no way of knowing his name, yelled, bolting upright so fast he fell out of the bed.

Virgil cringed deeply before leaning over and asking, “Hi? Do you want some breakfast?”

“N-no, I’m good. If you don’t mind me asking how did I get here.” Logan replied, desperately attempting to regain some semblance of control over this situation.

Virgil did the universal, ‘guess Ill die gesture.’ “Well, funny story, I don’t know the answer to that. I was kinda hoping you would know?”

Logan sighs, more disappointed in himself for getting into this mess than with Virgil for not knowing either. “Okay, excuse my directness then, but did we perhaps have intercourse last night?”

“Probably not, I mean we’re both fully clothed?” And god did Virgil hate how every sentence that came out of his mouth sounded like a question, but goddamn it, he was gay and this man was cute.

“That is strong evidence in the nay category,” Logan consented, before popping the wonderous little bubble of denial that Virgil had already built, “But it does not explain how we got into this situation”

Virgil suggested, “I mean, I could call my friends and ask?” even though it was the last thing in the world he wanted to do at the moment.

“Why would your friends know?”

“They’re overprotective and I rarely wander away from them,” Virgil admitted, unable to ignore just how lame that sounded.

Logan thought on it for a minute before consenting, “That seems like the best idea, but please do not mention my name.”

Virgil gave a smile that was more like baring his teeth and tossed up an awkward peace sign. “No problem bud, I don’t even know your name.”

“Logan,” and for some reason with Virgil’s grey eyes focused on him Logan felt the need to reiterate, “My name is Logan.”

“Cool, nice to meet ya. I’m Virgil”

“It’s a pleasure,” Logan managed, turning the name over in his head, wondering why it sounded so familiar.

A quick thumbs up and the Virgil was on the phone. “Hey, Roman-”

“Dude! Are you ok?” Roman interrupted, sounding more concerned than Virgil had ever heard him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m in my dorn right now. Why?” Virgil responding his stomach twisting like a snake as his mind tried to come up with a reason for Roman’s concern.

Roman breathed a sigh of relief, “Because you got shit-faced last night and wandered off with some rando.”

“About that……” Virgil started, not exactly knowing where to start.

Roman’s excitement was clear as he practically shouted, “Oh shit, did you get some?”

“I’m not sure?” Virgil cringed, hating how weak his voice sounded in that moment.

Roman asked, “How drunk were you?” the concern returning.

Virgil admitted, “Drunk enough where I need you to answer a few questions for me,” praying that Patton would never find out about this.

“Sure thing,” Roman readily agreed.

“Cool, cool, so do you know me well enough to say if drunk me intended to have sex?” Virgil asked, his anxiety causing his words to blend into each.

Luckily Roman knew Virgil well enough to untangle the mass of sounds and tell him exactly what he needed to hear, the truth. “You didn’t.”

“Oh, thank god,” Virgil sighed, unaware of how tense he was until he finally realized.

Roman continued, “Yeah no, the dude told you that you were cute, then you cried and begged him to be your roommate,” taking slight pleasure in recalling the clearly embarrassing events.

“Oh no,” Virgil muttered, his eyes widening in fear.

“I have video evidence if that helps.” Roman offered unhelpfully.

“Roman, that is the exact opposite of helpful.”

Roman ignored Virgil and gleefully continued, “Patton has photos of you and the dude holding hands.”

“Please make him delete them,” Virgil groaned, already imaging the blackmailing that he was sure to receive.

“Why?” Roman asked as a splendid idea formed, “They’re cute, he can show them off when you marry the dude.”

“I’m not marrying him!” Virgil screamed, glancing back at Logan, causing a blush to form on his face.

Roman tried to contain his laughter as he sagely stated, “That’s straight.”

“Roman when I see you I am going to destroy you,” Virgil threatened, but it was ineffective because by this point Roman knew Vigil would never hurt a fly.

The innuendo was clear as Roman teased, “Virgie, you know if you wanted some of this you should have let me know!”

“I’m hanging up, you’re dead to me.” Virgil declared because by god it was too early for Roman’s bullshit.

“Virge wai-” Roman began, but it was too late, Virgil had followed through on his word.

There was an awkward minute as neither knew exactly what to do before Logan broached the topic, “So, did we?”

“No,” Virgil replied, his tone so sincere that Logan had no choice but to believe him.

“Thank god,” Logan said before realizing how that could be taken. He then cleared his throat and then amended, “I mean nothing against you, it’s just, you know….”

Virgil cringed a little, trying to ignore the sting of Logan’s words. There shouldn’t have even been a sting, they didn’t know each other well enough for that. “I do know, but I do have some bad news.”

Logan’s face paled and his mind ran through all the possible things that could have happened, “Oh, what is it?”

“My friends, have some embarrassing videos/photos of us,” Virgil answered, mentally preparing himself for the fallout. 

Logan breathed a sigh of relief, immensely glad that it wasn’t something serious, “That’s not to bad. In all honesty, I was imagining worse. Do you think they’ll post them?”

“No, they may be dicks, but they’re not assholes. I’ll just be tormented for the rest of time, nothing for you to worry about,” Virgil groaned, already imagining the months of teasing that were to follow. 

At that moment Logan’s stomach decides to grumble, alerting Logan to the fact that he was most certainly intruding, “Oh, I should probably go and get some food.”

“Stay,” Virgil said, unable to help himself. There was a pause as neither knew what to do in this situation before Virgil offered, “I mean… I make some pretty mean pancakes.”

“Are you sure? I would hate to intrude.” Logan asked, slightly tempted by the offer of pancakes.

Virgil’s reply of, “I offered didn’t I. Just take a seat and tell me how you’re doing,” was a bit gruffer than he would have liked, but there was no changing that now.

Logan answered, “Ok, well if you insist,” sounding like Virgil didn’t have to insist that hard to get him to stay.

As Logan took a seat at the table and Virgil began to cook they did the natural thing and began to talk, mostly of the program. Virgil, for example, was apparently a part of wardrobe, but considering the pieces of cloth scattered around hapahazourdly, it wasn’t that unlikely. Logan, on the other hand, was a lighting tech and absolutely wanted to kill his roommate, and as Logan spent at least 5 minutes ranting about him a planned formed in Virgil’s mind.

Virgil took a deep breathe and offered, “You could move in here if you want?” not sure why he was offering.

“What?” Logan sputtered, his eyes going wide and a blush forming on his face.

“I mean you’re having issues with your roommate, so move in here?” Virgil reiterate, and oh god, how Logan was looking at him made Virgil want to die, but also swear he could fly.

Logan protested, “We just met!” trying not to give in, even if the offer was tempting.

Virgil quickly amended, “Yeah, but I’m not here much, so you’d have the place mostly to yourself,” driven by a force outside himself to get Logan to move in.

“What do you get out of this?” Logan asked, suspicious of any sort of charity given to him, but especially unnecessary charity.

Virgil answered honestly, “Someone to throw shit out and dust when I’ve been gone for a week,” because cleaning his fridge of inspired food and dusting after days spent with Roman and Patton was a major bummer.

“Are you sure? And won’t the organizers be mad?” Logan questioned, starting to become swayed, but still worried about the rules. He was always worried about the rules, especially the unspoken ones he didn’t know.

Virgil chuckled a little bit at the organizers even giving a crap what they did outside of the theatre. “Once again I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t sure, and trust me the organizers won’t give a shit.”

“What about the group leaders?” Logan weakly protested, knowing that a bunch of young adults trying to manage other young adults was a recipe for disaster, “Aren’t they supposed to keep us reigned in?”

Virgil’s head fell back and groaned, “God, I hate the title group leader. It’s so lame.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” even though the sinking suspicion of where he knew Virgil from certainly did answer the question.

Virgil couldn’t possibly help himself from laughing before he explained, “Me and the dudes with the embarrassing photos, we’re the group leaders.”

“Oh,” is all Logan can say which is incredibly out of character for him, considering he normally says a lot.

“I take it you weren’t paying attention at orientation,” Virgil teased, mischief clearly present in his eyes.

Logan attempted to defend himself, “My roommate is very distracting.”

“I can tell.” Virgil joked before taking on a more serious tone, “So what is it yes or no?”

Logan knows he should say no, and, god, is he good at saying no. But the longer he thinks about the more he thinks about where saying no has left him, unexperienced and longing for something he can’t put his name on. Besides that Dee is an asshole, although not in a way that makes him bad, more in the way that he’ll drive Logan half-insane if giving the chance. On the other hand Virgil seems to be, well, a better person for Logan to spend time with, even if Virgil has already stated he wasn’t going to be around all that much.

Honestly, for all the protesting Logan did he already knew his answer the moment Virgil asked.

“Yes. I’ll move in”


	5. Fast Acting

It didn’t take long for Logan to fall into a routine, especially considering that true to his word Virgil wasn’t around much. Maybe that’s why after a month of practical solitude in the dorm Logan was so surprised to hear crying. He, of course, followed the crying because he was curious and a tad bit kind enough to realize he should probably comfort Virgil.

And so, he gently knocked on Virgil’s door with a soft, “May I come in?”

“No,” Virgil responded, choking down a sob.

Logan cringed, realizing that this wasn’t an issue that he could easily handle. “May I ask what is wrong then?”

“You can do ask anything you want, doesn’t mean I’ll answer,” Virgil mumbled through the door.

Logan took a seat, understanding that this was going to take a bit, “Fair enough. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Virgil lied, although it wouldn’t take a genius to tell he was lying, not with how broken his voice sounded.

“Doesn’t sound like nothing,” Logan pointed out, clumsily trying to navigate the feelings of someone else.

Virgil snapped, “Then everything is wrong. I don’t know!” before thudding his head against the door.

Logan flinched just a little bit, his stomach twisting as he attempted to defuse the situation, “Ok, that’s fine. Just...I guess...let me know if you need anything.”

“Why?” Virgil asked, sounding both hopeless and amazed. 

Logan asserted, “Because I want to help you,” knowing there was no going back now.

“No, I mean, why help me?” Virgil amended, hating how small his voice sounded, hating that it revealed just how vulnerable he was.

“One, you’ve already helped me. Two, you’re a good person. And three, it’s the right thing to do,” Logan explained, hoping he was doing the right thing in the right way.

Virgil was unable to stop himself from asking, “Are you sure you want to help?”

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t,” Logan said, remembering what Virgil’s own words from about a month ago.

Virgil laughed,“Using my own words against me,” although at some points it sounded more like a sob.

Logan brushed right passed the opportunity to admit what Virgil’s offer had meant to him by saying, “The opportunity was too good to pass. Now how can I help?” Because after all, it was not the time for Logan to spill his heart out, it was the time for him receive Virgil’s.

“Just talk to me? I don’t know. How has the program been treating you?” Virgil answered, opening up to the idea that he could deal with what happened. 

“Better than expected. I’ve worked on tech crews before, but never any as big as this one. I also never have to look my ex-roommate in the eyes. Which would just be terrible considering I never actually told him I was moving out,” Logan admitted, trying to add a bit of humor to the situation.

“You what?!” Virgil practically screamed, shocked that the most serious looking person he’s ever had the pleasure of meeting would do something like that.

Logan cringed a little as he explained, “Never told him I was leaving. I just waited until he would be gone for a few hours, then left?” 

Virgil’s spirits started to lift a little as he teased, “I can’t believe I’ve been harboring a fugitive.”

“If it makes you feel better I don’t think he’s reporting me missing...yet,” Logan joked right back, though he has the nagging suspicion that Dee would report him missing at some point.

Virgil could barely restrain his laughter as he asked, “Yet?”

“You never know when someone might report you missing,” Logan honestly answered because in his experience you never did know when you might be reported missing.

“God, and I thought I was a mess,” Virgil teased, unable to go against the easy familiarity he felt with Logan.

Logan retorted, “I wouldn’t know considering we haven’t interacted that much,” for once not thinking about the implications of his sentence.

Virgil cringed, immediately feeling guilty. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be, you told me you weren’t going to be around much, so it’s in no way your fault,” Logan assured, hating how Virgil’s face fell.

“I know, I just feel guilty?” Virgil weakly replied, hating how his mood swung from happy to sad with just a single sentence.

Logan reiterated, “You don’t have to though, you did nothing wrong,” trying his best to fix the situation.

Virgil shrugged, “I guess?” not truly believing Logan.

“No guessing this isn’t a test,” Logan said, even though he never guessed on a test.

“Ok, but-” Virgil began, but Logan quickly cut him off.

“No buts either, the goal of this conversation was to make you feel better, and I will not fail. I do not fail.” And it was true, ever since a young age Logan has refused to fail, it has to lead to him having severe control issues, but that is neither here nor there.

Virgil’s eyes widened and he pointed out, “You’re kinda intense, ya know.”

Logan nodded, “I do, and apologizes if that made you uncomfortable,” he uncommonly was used to be calling intense, and some worse things as well.

“No worries, I’m actually feeling better than before?” Virgil stated, cracking a small smile.

“Then it appears I’ve done my job. Though I am still curious what made you upset?”

“Nothing important.”

“If it made you upset then it is important,” Logan stated because it was obvious.

Virgil amended, “Ok, well it’s nothing that I want to talk about,” unwilling to talk about his messed up life with a near stranger, although he wishes they weren’t.

“Understandable, it must have been distressing.”

“I guess, I don’t really know. Umm...could we talk about something else again?” Virgil suggested the mere thought of what happened making him twitchy.

Logan quickly agreed, “What do you want to talk about?” not wanting to upset Virgil once again.

Virgil breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “I don’t know? You again? You seem like a good topic. What do you do in your free time?”

“I enjoy math?” Logan answered although it was much closer to a question than an answer.

Virgil held back laughter as he asked, “You do math in your free time?” completely enamored with Logan’s oddities.

Logan rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact. “No, mostly because I don’t have a lot of free time.”

“Ok, that sucks. What would you do if you had free time?” Virgil replied, his heart going out for anyone who had so little free time they thought they enjoyed math of all things.

“I’m not sure, I’ve never really thought about it,” Logan admitted, despising how lame that probably made him seem to Virgil.

“Really? Why?”

“I don’t see the point of dwelling on the improbable.”

“Ok, yeah that settles it. When are you free next?”

“Never…” Logan joked, trying to deflect from the conversation.

“No, for real, doesn’t matter how far into the future it is, just tell me.”

Logan sighed and quickly ran through his schedule, “I believe I have a section of time free Tuesday.”

“Perfect, I’ll meet you here,” Virgil declared, his eyes lightening up.

“What? Why?”

“We’re going out. I’m almost certain you haven’t had time to explore the city yet.”

Logan paused before slowly admitting, “...You’re not wrong.”

“Sweet, so it’s a date?”

The moment he processed what Virgil had said Logan’s face turned incredibly red. “A date?” he asked, trying not to sound hopeful.

He must have been successful or Virgil truly didn’t harbor any romantic feeling for Logan because although slightly flustered his reply was a gentle, “As, like friends, ya know?”

Logan’s eyes widened and he quickly clarified, “Yes, I know. I just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page,” not wanting to be seen as a fool or worse a hopeful fool.

“So that’s a yes?” Virgil asked, quickly sidestepping the awkward mess both of them had made of the situation.

Unlike the last time, Virgil had made him an offer Logan didn’t even need a second to consider his answer.

“It’s a yes.”


	6. Date Night

Virgil was panicking. Mostly because of his date with Logan, well that statement needs to be amended in two ways, first of all, both parties had agreed that it was not a date even if they wished it was one, and secondly, it was not ‘mostly’ the reason, but the entire reason. 

As of right now, Virgil was getting ready for the not-date in Roman’s and Patton’s room. He could have gotten ready in his own room much more easily, but that, of course, break one of the sacred codes of friendship, which is of course, ‘one must get ready for dates with friends, and get teased by friends,’ so really he had no choice in the matter.

“You should be wearing more mesh.”

“Roman, for the last time, I’m not going to wear mesh on this friendly outing,” Virgil hissed in a way that made it clear that this was a conversation they’ve been having for the better part of an hour.

Roman retorted, “It could be more than a friendly outing if you wore mesh,” throwing in a wink to make it clear where he thought the night could go with the help of a little mesh.

“Roman, I am going to kill you,” Virgil threatened, still laying down on the bed.

Roman flops down next to Virgil, “Can’t do any worse than my brother.”

“Does he actually try to kill you?” Patton asks his concern drawing him into the conversation.

Roman explained, “No, he’s just testing out prop weapons,” although his tone paints doubt on if it’s entirely testing them.

“Didn’t he make you think he stabbed himself?” Patton questions, joining the pair on the bed.

Roman winces a bit at the memory, “Yeeeah, that was a stressfully couple of minutes, but he’s on meds now and doing much better.”

“Oh! That’s good. I wish I could get Dee to talk to someone.”

Virgil’s ears perk up at the mention of Logan’s former roommate as Roman asks, “Speaking of Dee, has he even mentioned his vanishing roommate yet?”

“Not at all, which is weird cause normally he loves to gossip.”

“He could honestly not care?” Virgil suggested, hoping it was true because if Dee got a sniff of what was going on with Logan their would be no rest.

Roman’s eyes widened, “Doesn’t sound like him…” he began his tone dripping with suspicion. 

Virgil rolled his eyes, “You think he’s up to something, don’t you?”

“He’s always up to something!” Roman retorted sitting up in the bed.

“I mean maybe he’s distracted by the cute barista he keeps mentioning,” Patton offered as mean as an explanation.

Virgil racked his brain for a minute trying to remember the barista’s name. “Remy? Don’t they flirt with everyone”

“No, they didn’t flirt with me,” Roman whined, clearly upset that there was someone beside Virgil who would not fall for his charms.

Virgil pointed out, “That’s because they hate you,” thinking of how seeing Roman always puts Remy in a bad mood.

“They do not!”

“You keep spilling coffee on them,” Virgil deadpanned, not even bothering to look over at Roman, who was most certainly pouting.

Roman yelled, “Accidently!!” as he grabbed a pillow to throw at Virgil.

Patton immediately interjected, “Boys, boys, settle down. We have more important things to do than fight,” remembering the pillow war and hours cleaning up the glass that came with the last pillow fight.

“Like what?” Virgil asked although he was certain he already knew the answer.

Patton’s face light up as he answered, “Like get you ready for your date!”

“It’s not a date!” Virgil protested, sounding like a broken record at this point.

Roman rolled his eyes and snickered, “Sure Jan.”

Virgil announced, “That’s it I’m leaving! Goodbye! See you never!” leaping off the bed and making his way to the door.

Roman gently grabbed Virgil’s wrist and tugged him back to the bed, “No, you’re not. When’s the friendly outing?” 

“In an hour…,” Virgil mumbled, allowing himself to be pulled on to the bed.

Patton guessed, “So you’re gonna hang for 45 minutes?” knowing Virgil like to leave soon, but not too soon.

“Yeah….” Virgil admitted, staring up at the ceiling, wondering what he did in his past lives to deserve this.

Roman chimed in, “Thought so,” wrapping an arm around Virgil.

Virgil snuggled into Roman, “I hope you know how much I hate this.”

“No, you just hate how well we know you, but sorry to tell ya kiddo, that’s just a symptom of friendship,” Patton explained, smiling at his two boys.

Virgil crinkled his nose and asked, “Gross, what’s the cure?” pretending to gag. 

Roman carded his fingers through Virgil’s hair, “There is no cure, you just have to deal with all the love we give you.”

“...I guess that’s ok…”

The group continued to chat and tease each other as the clock began to count down. And Roman and Patton must have known what they were doing because, by the time he had to go, Virgil was relaxed and ready for this friendly outing, that even a casual observer would call a date.

Virgil briskly walked toward his dorm, trying to walk at a pace that would allow he him to arrive on time, but not make him appear like he was excited or nervous, even though the action of picking one’s own pace for that reason completely negates the desired effect. Other than that he was doing a completely acceptable job of maintaining a cool facade, such a good, in fact, that when the door opened Logan gave his a nice little once over.

“Salutations,” Logan greeted a faint blush on his face.

Virgil asked, “Hey, so, ummm, are you ready or do you need a little more time?” so awe-struck that he forgot what he was supposed to do.

Logan answered, “No, I believe myself to be in an acceptable state, even though you didn’t inform me of the activity,” teasing Virgil just a tad bit.

“That’s cause it’s a surprise,” Virgil explained like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Logan smiled and retorted, “And that’s understandable, although it did make it hard to plan my outfit.”

Virgil’s heartbeat picked up as he asked, “You planned your outfit?”

“Well, yes, I, uhhh, did,” Logan responded, his blush becoming significantly less faint.

“It looks great!” Virgil blurted out before realizing he sounded too eager, “Just real good.”

Logan swore he was going to die on the spot, “That’s good, uh, thank you.”

“So, uhhh, yeah, let’s go?” Virgil prompted, wishing he was going to die on the spot.

“Lead the way,” Logan replied, sweeping his arm out in front of him.

Virgil did just that with a strangled, “Yep…”

That general tone of awkwardness as they walked to the destination. Neither of them really sure how to proceed with this faux friendly outing, but soon enough they arrived, and Logan’s eyes widened as he realized where they were.”

Logan asked, “Is this what I think it is?” unable to pretend hid wasn’t impressed.

“What do you think it is?” Virgil responded with a shit-eating grin.

Logan was unable to tear his eyes away from the building as he replied, “A planetarium.”

“Then you’re correct.”

“I didn’t even know there was one out here.”

“That’s because you’ve never just left your room,” Virgil teased, loving how bright Logan’s eyes looked. 

Logan protested, “I have left my room!”

Virgil smiled and amended the statement, “Ok, you’ve never left the campus.”

“...You’re not wrong,” Logan admitted, looking a little put down upon.

“Oh please, don’t look so upset.” Virgil hated how he was the one who took away Logan’s smile. “It’s ok to be afraid to leave your comfort zone.”

Logan, unable to help himself, asked, “Are you scared?”

“To leave my comfort zone? Absolutely terrified,” Virgil answered, figuring he at least owed Logan that.

Logan pressed, “And right now?” his curiosity winning over social norms demanded of him.

Virgil answer the question honestly. He had no idea why he did because normally he would just brush right past the question, but this time he didn’t. “Yes, I swear my hearts beating so loud the whole world can hear it.”

“Why?” Logan whispered, his near enough that Virgil could feel the question on his lips.

“Because I’m-” Virgil began before reality came crashing back to him, “Never mind. Uh, let’s go inside and look at the fake stars?”

Logan pulls away from Virgil, his disappointment startling clear in his movements and voice. “Of course, wouldn’t want to waste this outing.”

“We could always do this again. You could even meet my friends if you want,” Virgil offered unable to help himself after seeing how disappointed Logan was.

Logan asked, “Would you want me to?” refusing to let himself hope.

“Yeah, I think you would like them,” Virgil answered, hoping it both hides and revealed the depth of his feelings.

“Really?” And oh, the hope was clear to anyone listening, if that person happened to not be Virgil.

“Yep, I mean it may be awkward at first, but I still think you would have fun.”

“You’re a good person,” Logan points out, wishing he could take Virgil’s hand.

As was second nature at this point, Virgil immediately denied it, “Not really,”

Logan glances sideways at Virgil with a fond smile on, “If you say so.”

And with that silence fell upon the two of them, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. It was like the silence of a couple who has been together so long that they don’t need to talk, they just need to be near each other, and even though Logan and Virgil had recently met they were quickly falling into that category.

The silence continued as the pair walked the halls of the planetarium, only being interrupted by the occasional ‘wow’ and awe-struck gasps. This was of course until the got to the holographic Milkey Way. It took up the entire room, casting its a lovely glow on every surface, included anyone inside the room.

It was in the glow of that room as they were both covered in stars that Logan made a requested that would change the course of the two’s relationship.

“I need you to help me figure out if I’m gay.”


	7. An Offer

Logan had no idea why he said that. That wasn’t exactly true, he had an inkling of why, but that inkling was based more on feelings than logic. Logically, he said it because Virgil was an openly gay man who he trusted. Emotionally, he said it because Virgil was someone he wanted to get to know better.

You see Logan has very little interest in labels and would be very happy in his life if he could figure out who he’s attracted to and then do nothing with that, but sadly to live the ideal life Logan would first have to go through the task that is attraction.

Which leads him to this very moment, having just made the dumbest request of his life and staring down Virgil who is understandable just standing there, staring.

“What?” Virgil managed to ask, forcing the single word out.

Logan’s eyes widen and panic sets in, “Nothing, nothing at all.”

“No, I heard what you said, I’m just... What?”

“Well you see, I am unaware of the extent of my attraction to males and I would like you to help me figure it out,” Logan explained his voice surprisingly steady for someone who felt like he was going to die.

At this point, Virgil was refusing to believe Logan. There was no possible way this could be correct. “Wh-Why?”

“Well, recently I’ve noticed myself having a certain type of feelings for those who identify on the more masculine spectrum and-”

Virgil cut off the explanation as an attempt to end both his and Logan’s suffering. “No, why me? Like there are probably more qualified people?”

“I trust you.” Those 3 words, said in the same way that one would say water is wet. There was much more to those3 words then what was on the surface that there was only one way to respond.

“Oh.”

Logan cracked a small, slightly pained smile, finally looking into Virgil’s eyes. “Oh indeed. You don’t have to do anything, you don’t even have to give me a response if you don’t want to.”

“No!” Virgil practically yelled, his hands shooting up before he cleared his throat and continued, “It’s just I’m trying to figure out the best way to help.”

“What?” Logan questioned, Virgil’s disbelief of the situation seemingly transferring to him.

“Yeah, I mean of course I’ll help you,” Virgil responding, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh.”

Virgil chuckled a little at the fact that Logan’s oh was an exact twin to his own. “Yeah, oh is right.”

Logan asks, “Well, umm, when should we start?” both hoping to get this over with and that it would never end.

“No time like the present,” Virgil answers his smile turning slightly shy as it occurs to him just how weird this will be.

Logan nods just bit to enthusiastically, “Very true, uhh yes, so shall we begin?”

“We shall.” there's a pause, not long enough to be even a full minute, but enough to scare Logan, “I guess tell me about the dudes you’ve been attracted to recently?”

Logan immediately thinks of Virgil, especially how tender he looked the morning they woke up together. He shakes his head, hoping the blush on his face doesn’t give him away. “Well, uh, one of them was my roommate-”

“Dee!?” Virgil asks, his entire face lighting up with the same joy that your friends’ faces light up when they just discovered some great teasing material.

“Yes, him,” Logan mutters, placing his head in his hands.

Virgil thinks for a moment before asking, “Wait, is that why you left?” his tone just incredulous. 

“It could be.” Logan begins, but then Virgil gives him that look and Logan amended the statement “It is.”

Virgil’s smile somehow gets even wider, “God that’s a mood, but anyway, what about him made you feel...things?”

Logan’s stomach does a flip, as he thinks about it, but soon enough he answers, “Well I found him pleasing to look at and arguing with him was fun. He is a bit annoying at times, and I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him,”

“Ok, so you found him hot, likes to possibly flirt with him, and you find him shady. Cool, that’s some good info.” Virgil pauses to digest the information and in those few seconds, a thought occurs to him, “Wait! I have a solution!”

“Already?” Logan askes, unable to believe that a solution could be found so quickly, not when the question for months.

“Yes, and it’s a good one. Do you feel both straight and cisgender?” Virgil asks, his voice, surprisingly gentle.

Logan doesn’t even have to ponder the question, “Not both of them. I’m very aware that I’m cis, but straight is something I know I’m not.”

“Then you’re queer if that’s a word you’re okay with,” Virgil responds, and he doesn’t say queer like it’s a bad word like most people would do instead he says it just like it is, a word that can be used for good or bad, exactly the same as any other word.

“Queer,” Logan says, testing how the word taste in his mouth, “How the fuck could I forget about queer?”

Virgil smiles at Logan’s frustration with himself, finding it kind of cute. “Does that help? Cause you seem to have at least some interest in male-aligned people.”

Logan smiles back as he answers, “Yes it actually does, even if it makes me feel like a fool.”

“You ain’t no fool, you’re just too busy to spend time thinking about that sort of thing,” Virgil responds, always one to comfort even if comfort isn’t strictly needed.

“I suppose so. Thank you once again, now all I have to do is figure out how to act on this interest,” Logan means the last part as a joke, and for a second it is just a joke, but then Virgil does something neither of them expected. 

“I could help you with that too.”


	8. Teach Me How To Kiss

Almost as soon as those fated words had left Virgil's lips Logan had an answer. “Yes.”

“Wait, really?” Virgil replied, assuming he would get immediately rejected

Logan glanced away from Virgil, “Yeah, I see no reason not to take you up on your offer unless of course, you were joking?”

“No!” Virgil paused for a second to get himself under control, “I wouldn’t joke about something like that.”

“I know, I don’t know how I know, but I know.”

“That’s, actually really nice?”

“I was just telling the truth.”

“Cool, cool, well I guess we should head back? It’s getting pretty late and I need to think of a plan.”

“Sure thing, just let me know when we’re starting, so I can be prepared.” The pair walks in silence for a bit after that, unable to talk about what just happened, before Logan decides to ask, “Are you staying with Patton and Roman tonight?”

“I was actually wondering if I could hang in our dorm? It’s their date night, and I’ve walked in on one too many date nights to make that mistake again,” Virgil responds, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

Logan can’t help but chuckle a bit. “Of course, and please feel free to ‘hang out’ there whenever. It technically is your dorm after all.”

Virgil gives a small smile as he explains, “I offered it to you, so I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable.”

“Your presence could never make me uncomfortable.”

“And you say you don’t flirt”

“Oh, I, umm-”

“Just teasing you, don’t worry about it,” Virgil interrupts, ending Logan’s suffering of trying to figure out how to respond.

The only reply Logan can muster is a quite, “Oh, okay,” as a blush starts to form on his face.

The conversation continues along with the teasing vein until the pair arrive back at the dorm where they part ways, each to their respective rooms. Logan begins to study while Virgil starts to think, trying to figure out a way to teach Logan until suddenly as if out of nowhere an idea comes to him.

Virgil knocks a couple of times on Logan’s door before asking, “Hey, Logan you in there?”

“I am, please come in,” Logan calls from inside the room, not even looking up from his study material.

Virgil walks into the room and sits on the bed before explaining “Ok, so I have a vague lesson plan figured out for the acting on attraction thing, and was wondering when you’d be ok working on it?”

Logan finally looks up from his studies and offers, “If it’s okay with you, I’m free now.”

“Now? Like right now?” Virgil questions, not emotionally prepared to start so soon.

“Yes, as they say, ‘there’s no time like the present’”

“Yeah, okay, I can dig it,” There’s an awkward pause at Virgil scrambles to figure out how he should start, “So do you know what flirting is?”

“Yes, it is a set of behaviors used to try and attract someone,” Logan answers in the same tone of voice as someone who’s already studied the required material. 

“You’re not wrong. Um… let’s try this. Do you know how to flirt?” Virgil amends, realizing clinical sounding questions would just get clinical sounding answers.

Logan thinks back to his interactions with other people before amending, “No, I do not. Care to enlighten me?”

“Yeah, that’s the whole point of this. So there’s 2 main types of flirting, asshole flirting and soft flirting. Asshole flirting is basically bantering and teasing. I guess insults can be thrown in as well if you’re feeling spicy.”

Logan’s face scrunches up at the explanation, wondering why anyone would be into that. “That doesn’t sound romantic?”

“I mean, if the other person isn’t an asshole then it isn’t. And like the intention of the action is really what makes it flirting. Like I bant with Roman all the time, but I don’t wanna bone him.” Virgil cringed a bit at the end of the sentence, just thinking about boning Roman made him uncomfortable. 

“I would hope not. Patton would be very upset if that were the case,” Logan teases, trying to avoid the air of awkwardness that was slowly forming around the conversation.

Virgil nods in agreement before continuing, “True, but let’s move on to soft flirting. Soft flirting is compliments and nice things. I’m not that good at it, so I may have to direct you to Patton if you’re a soft flirter.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, I am almost certain I’m an asshole,” Logan points out after realizing soft flirting sounds more unpleasant to him than asshole flirting.

“Perfect because I’m also an asshole.” Virgil pauses as he realizes what he was insinuating before blushing and moving on, “Now remember, soft flirters can employ asshole strats and assholes can be soft at times.”

Logan’s voice is practically dripping with sarcasm as he replies, “That’s not confusing at all.”

“Yeah, the best advice I can give is to try and figure out the intention behind the actions, yours and theirs. Got it?” Virgil asks, realizing he doesn’t know as much about flirting as he thought he did.

Logan, to the shock of both of them, honestly answered, “Surprisingly, yes, I do feel like I understand or understand as well as you do.”

“That’s all I can ask for.” Virgil pauses, unsure of where to go next, “So, that was actually all I had planned. I thought it was gonna take a lot longer. Is there anything you wanna learn.”

Almost instantly a thought forms in Logan’s head and his face erupts into a blush. For a second he thinks he’s going to be sick with the way his stomach os flipping all over the place before he forces himself to act on the thought. “Teach me how to kiss?”

“Oh,”

Panic quickly sets in and Logan tries to backtrack, “You don’t have to. I mean I really shouldn’t have asked-”

Virgil cuts him off, raising his hands in the air, “No, it’s ok, just give me a second to figure it out.”

“Take your time,” Logan mumbles wishing he could just sink into the floor and never return. 

Half of Virgil just wants to run away and pretend he never agreed to this, but the other half would hate to disappoint Logan. Before his mind can tear itself in two Virgil comes to a decision he’s certain he’ll regret, but in all fairness, he was certain he was going to regret his decision no matter what he picked. “Ok, I think I got it. First, let’s talk about how you would know someone would want to kiss you.”

“Don’t worry I know this one, either the verbalize it or they use body language,” Logan tried to joke, his entire body tense with anticipation. 

“Ok, smartypants, what body language do they use?” There’s a brief silence as Logan realizes he doesn’t know the answer and Virgil let’s go of his fear. “Mhm. Ok, so sometimes they’ll lean in” As he says the words Virgil leans in, just close enough to whisper the next part in Logan’s ear. 

“Maybe cup your cheek” Virgil’s hand is warm against Logan’s cheek, and his fingers are calloused from sewing.

“Look into your eyes.” Logan’s eyes look like galaxies and Virgil realizes he wouldn’t mind looking into them like this more. 

“Perhaps they’ll glance at your lips” Logan’s lips are chapped and Virgil thinks, ‘I should buy him some chapped stick, cherry flavor.”

“They’ll definitely be close enough to feel their breath on your lips.” By now Virgil has leaned close enough even that Logan can feel every word Virgil says on his lips.

There will be a pause” And there’s a heavy pause, the air its self has turned into hydrogen.

“And then what?” Logan asks, his voice oh so gentle, as if afraid of ruining the moment.

“Then they kiss you,” Is all the warning Logan got before Virgil’s lips were pressed against his. To Logan it felt like the first drop on a roller coaster, exhilarating and terrifying all at once, but entirely perfect.

To Virgil, it felt like a mistake because the moment his lips touched Logan’s he realized the true depth of his feelings, but he couldn’t pull away, not yet, not until he really sure of what he was feeling.

“Wow,” Logan whispers as the breakaway.

Virgil’s eyes widen and he practically yells, “I have to go!” before dashing out of the room, leaving Logan all alone.


	9. The End (Side A)

Logan felt like crying as he sat in that room all by himself, and he didn’t know why. Was it the fact that Virgil rejected him? Or was it something else that kiss made him realize because for all sparks that flew between the two a fire didn’t ignite. And it might never ignite, not inside of Logan. He just wasn’t made to love, not in the way that boyfriends, girlfriends, or any form of romantic partner he could have would want him to. He wasn’t asexual, but that didn’t he wasn’t aromantic. He didn’t even know what that word meant, not until he finally decided that he would figure himself not to listen to what anyone else was saying to him.

After that discover he moved back in with Dee awkward and a little more than guilty as he tried to explain the journey he had just gone through. Dee forgave Logan, not immediately of course because when someone leaves it hurts even if there was a reason, but they got there.

It happened one night while the pair were cooking dinner and discussing the end of the year. Logan had admitted that he didn’t know what he was going to do with his life, even now after everything that had happened, and as a way of comforting, Dee told the story of his summer. Full of romance and self-discovery, but more importantly it was a story of growth, change, and apologizing.

It didn’t help Logan figure out what he wanted to do, but it did make him realize he had time, and he may never figure it out because things change and things are fluid. 

Nothing is set in stone, it’s set in a flowing river.


	10. The End (Side B)

Running is what Virgil did best and as he ran away from Logan he wondered why. He was happy with Logan or at least as happy as he could be, but he didn’t feel anything with that kiss. Nothing more than what he normally felt. Honestly, when he drunkenly kissed Roman right before he started dating Patton, Virgil had felt more.

With that thought, he stopped running, and instead collapsed in the middle of the sidewalk sobbing as every feeling he repressed clawed its way to the surface. Every stab of jealousy seeing Roman hold Patton. Every flip of his stomach when Patton would hug him. Every rush when Roman picked him up and carried him around. Every time he saw Roman and Patton and feel more and more in love.

After a few minutes he managed to pull himself together, but he still had a terrible decision to make. Go back to Roman and Patton and face his feelings for them or go back to Logan and face his lack of feelings. It was nauseating just to think about and honestly, he wished the ground would swallow him whole, but it didn’t and he made a choice.

The front room was empty with just a simple note on the table that read, “Sorry, I can’t do this. I’m moving back in with Dee.”

As he read the note Virgil just sighed, he didn’t expect anything different, and on the bright side, he now wouldn’t have to talk about his feelings, at least not with Logan.

For the rest of the night, he went through the motions. Making dinner, washing the dishes, taking a shower. All in an attempt to push his feelings back into a box and never look at them again.

But as he lay in his bed that night, staring at his phones glowing screen and trying to ignore that the clock on his bedside table was currently reading 2:47 am, he couldn’t hold them back any longer and he made a choice, one that might destroy his relationship, but one he had no choice, but to make.

His fingers shook as he typed out the same message twice with just one word changed between them, just a simple little sentence that caused his hands to shake and tears to leave as he clicked send. 

“I’m in love with you and Patton.” and “I’m in love with you and Roman.” once those 7 words were sent Virgil finally fell asleep, knowing that tomorrow morning everything might change, and that wasn’t a bad thing.  
Change and choice, two of the most important things someone can experience. Two things that both terrifying and excite us. Two things we can never avoid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Summer of Self series will return with Dee's companion fic 'Honestly is The Best Policy' and a sequel 'Three's Company'


End file.
